This invention relates to animal collars. More particularly it relates to multipurpose animal collars.
Animal collars which are used for training purposes are often referred to as choke collars. Other animal collars of a fixed circumference which are worn for identification purposes are often referred to as identification collars primarily because the name of the animal or the owner's name and address are often written thereon.
Choke collars are simply an elongated piece of rope having a pair of steel rings at the ends. The rope is doubled and pressed through one of the rings, resulting in a loop having a variable circumference, with the major circumference being limited by contact between the rings and the minor circumference being limited by the animal's neck. The collar is placed around the animal's neck and the animal is restrained by pulling the ring which is attached to a movable end of the rope thereby enabling the trainer to more readily restrain the animal.
One of the problems in using a choke collar is that quite often it does not loosen at the proper time because the animal's hair or skin becomes caught in one of the rings. Such a choke collar must be put on the animal's neck so that the ring acts as a weight and allows the collar to release by gravity. The novice trainer or owner may not be aware of this procedure, therefore the collar will not release properly if it is not put on the animal's neck correctly. Furthermore, since it is dangerous to permit an animal to run free with a choke collar on, the owner of the choke collar will also more than likely want an identification collar to be used when the animal is not being trained. Therefore two separate collars are required.
Normally the identification collar is simply a piece of leather resembling a belt having a buckle so that it may fit various sizes of animals.
Various collars are the subject of patent literature and are discussed below.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,558,663 issued to Kaplanis, 4,476,814 issued to Miller, 4,022,161 issued to Halperin, and 4,020,795 issued to Marks all show choke collars. However, the collars set forth in the above patents are complicated devices and are difficult to manufacture.